Property Market Fact File – August 2013

Bank Lending Rate
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has confirmed that the Bank Base Rate is to remain at 0.5% for a further month. It has been at this very low level for a record period, i.e. since 5th March, 2009. The MPC also stated there would be no change to the £375bn of the Quantitive Easing Programme.
Source: Bank of England

!STOP PRESS! A statement called Forward Guidance has been issued, in which it has been confirmed that the bank base interest rate will stay at 0.5% until the unemployment rate drops to 7%. (It is currently running at 7.8%.)  This will also help to keep inflation under control.
Source: Bank of England

HOUSE PRICE INDICES – some show actual prices and others show asking prices. This month the average house price in England ranges from 163k to 254k.

Stamp Duty
Nearly 40% of house buyers in South-East England have been dragged into the higher stamp duty brackets, new research showed today.
More than £4bn was paid in stamp duty in the tax year to April, and nationally more than one in four transactions attracted duty at a rate of 3% or higher, according to the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which is campaigning for the tax to be simplified and the thresholds raised.

ONS House Price Index figures.
Figures for the year to May 2013, published by the Office for National Statistics on 16th July 2013, show that house prices increased by 2.9% over the year, to an average of £239k..
The average house price in England in May 2013 was £248k, £157k in Wales, £134k in Northern Ireland and £180k in Scotland.
Over the year to May 2013, England’s rise was 3.1% and Wales’ was 0.6%. Scotland’s rose by 0.8% and Northern Ireland’s figure rose by 1.9% over the year. This is the first annual rise in house prices in Northern Ireland for over 5 years.
Splitting England into regions, London’s prices rose over the year by 6.6%, followed by the West Midlands and North West which both rose by 2.7%. The smallest rise in prices was in the East Midlands  which was by 0.6%. There were no decreases.
First-time buyers’s average house price paid in May was £181k. Over the year, this is an increase of 4.1%. Existing owners paid an average of £273k in May, (the same as in April), an increase of 2.5% over the year.
The average price paid for a new-build dwelling was £229k in May, which is 1.5% higher than last May. The average price paid for a pre-owned building was £240k, which is 3.0% higher than the previous year.
Source: ONS

Land Registry’s Property Prices in England and Wales
Land Registry’s Property Prices in England and Wales
The Average price of a property in England and Wales is now £162,621 as at the end of June 2013, according to the report published on 26th July 2013.
The Monthly change in June in England and Wales was a 0.6% rise.
The Annual change to June in England and Wales was a rise of 0.8%.
Source: Land Registry

Halifax House Price Index figures.
The average price of a house by the end of June 2013 was £167,984, according to the Halifax House Price Index published 4th July 2013. House prices in June were 0.6% higher than in May, and the quarterly figure was up by 2.1%. The seasonally adjusted figures show that house prices are 3.7% higher than at this time last year, measured by the average for the latest quarter against the same period a year earlier.
Source: Halifax

Nationwide House Price Index figures
Nationwide House Price Index figures published on 2nd August 2013 showed that the average cost of a home in the UK, after seasonal adjustment, was £170,825 during the month of July. This is an increase from June of 0.8%, and an annual rise of 3.9%.
Source: Nationwide

Rightmove House Price Index figures
Rightmove’s June survey (published 15th July 2013) shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 9th June to 6th July 2013 was £253,658, an increase of 0.3% on the previous month. House asking prices are 4.8% higher than a year ago.
Source: Rightmove

Acadametrics House Price Index figures
LSL Property Services/Acadametrics’ June figures, published 12th July 2013, show that the average house price in England and Wales was £232,801 in June. This is only a 0.2% increase from May, but a 2.5% rise since last June.
Source: Acadametrics Ltd

Land Registry figures including Repossessions.
The headline figures in the June 2013 report are altered when repossession data is included – the average house price is then £161,062: 0.7% up on May and 1.1% up on June 2012.
In the months from January to April, the number of repossessions averaged 1,359 per month. In the same period last year, the average was 1,743 per month.
There was a total reduction in the number of repossessions over the year to April 2013 of 26%. Regional analysis shows that London had 37% fewer repossessions over the year, whereas the West Midlands had 8% more – this was the only region to see an increase..
Source: Land Registry

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HOUSE PRICES ANALYSED REGIONALLY ACROSS ENGLAND AND WALES

Regional trends in Rightmove Estate Agents Asking House Prices in England and Wales.
Rightmove’s June survey shows the asking price of a typical UK property in the period from 9th June to 6th July 2013 increased in five of the ten identified areas of England and Wales, and stayed the same in one.
The largest monthly increase was in the East Midlands where asking prices rose by 3.6% over the month from £167,643 to £173,600. The annual change there was a rise of 4.4%.
The largest monthly decrease was once again in East Anglia. Average prices there fell 1.1% from £231,621 in June to £229,156 in July. The annual change there was a rise of 1.9%.
The largest annual increase was in London, up 12.0% from £460,304 in July 2012 to £515,379 in July this year. The monthly change was £132 – statistically insignificant.
There were no decreases annually, but the smallest annual increase was the West Midlands region, up 1.0% from £191,121 in July 2012 to £193,059 in July this year. The monthly change was a fall of 0.4%.
Source: Rightmove

Regional Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales.
The Land Registry’s June survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per region as follows:
The largest monthly increase was in London, which saw an increase over the month of 3.1%, bringing the average house price in the region to £383,930. This is 6.9% higher than this time last year.
The largest monthly decrease in price is in the North East, where the average price fell 2.2% to £96,373, which is 3.8% lower than a year ago.
Annually, London saw the largest increase (see above) and the North East saw the largest decrease (see above).
Source: Land Registry

Analysis of Acadametrics HPI data by region
The latest figures show that of the ten regions specified, five had an increase in house prices in the quarter to May 2013 – by far the largest was Greater London (7.9% to £452,344).
Wales saw the greatest fall – 1.9% (to £150,376).
Source: Acadametrics

Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in England and Wales by County/Unitary authority.
The Land Registry’s June survey shows the prices of a typical UK property per county or unitary authority as follows:
The greatest monthly price increase is Greater London, where the average price is up by 3.1% to £383,930. This is 6.9% up on last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price was Blaenau Gwent, where prices fell by 9.2% to an average of £69,971. However, this is 2.9% higher than last year.
The largest annual rise was Conwy, where prices rose by 7.5% to £134,895.
The largest annual drop was once again Middlesbrough, which saw a fall of 10.3% on last year, the average house price here is now £75,572.
Six counties / authorities saw no price movement in the month.
Source: Land Registry

Analysis of Acadametrics HPI data by County/Unitary Authority
The unitary authorities with the largest increase in house prices between May 2012 and May 2013 (excluding Greater London) were the Isle of Anglesey and Halton, where the average house price rose by 8.0% to £169,115 and £136,357 respectively.
The largest decrease was Bournemouth, where there was a 10.3% drop (to £207,296).
Source: Acadametrics

Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices by Metropolitan District.
The Land Registry’s June survey shows the average prices of property by Metropolitan District as follows:
The greatest monthly price increase is in St Helens, where the average price is up by 1.8% to £96,043. This is 0.6% higher than last year. (St Helens saw the largest decrease last month.)
The greatest monthly decrease in price is in Rochdale, where prices fell by 3.9% to an average of £83,061. This is 7.6% lower than last year.
Over the year, Coventry saw the largest increase – 1.7% to £109,100, which is 1.7% higher than last month.
Sefton saw the greatest annual decrease – down 8.5%  to £113,630. The monthly change here was a fall of 1.0%.
Source: Land Registry

Rightmove’s analysis of asking prices by London Borough.
In the period from 9th June to 6th July 2013, the largest increase in asking prices was in Richmond, where they rose by 4.2% to an average of £745,640. The annual rise was 8.8%.
Both in Brent and the City of Westminster, asking prices fell by 3.4% in the month. However,  they rose by 16.5% and 22.5% respectively over the year. The average house price in Brent is now £724,395, whereas in Westminster it’s £1,629,761.
Annually, Westminster’s rise was the largest of all the boroughs (see above). Tower Hamlets saw the only decrease, where average asking prices have fallen by 0.8% over the year to £446,548. The monthly change there was a rise of 0.5%.
Source: Rightmove

Acadametrics data analysed by London Borough
Comparing May 2012 to May 2013, the City of London saw an increase of 76.5% in house prices. It must be emphasised that this area has very few transactions, and therefore cannot be regarding as typical of London as a whole. The City of Westminster had the next greatest increase in house prices -  20.3% to an average of £1,330,662.
Kensington & Chelsea is still the most expensive borough at an average of £1,496,278, which is 7.3% higher than last May.
Two boroughs saw a decrease over the year – Hillingdon (by 3.6% to £293,627) and Tower Hamlets (by 1.4% to £355,967). Barking & Dagenham remains the cheapest borough in terms of house prices at an average of £182,662, although this is 2.6% higher than last year.
Source: Acadametrics

Analysis of Land Registry’s House Prices in Greater London.
The Land Registry’s June survey shows the average prices of property per London Borough as follows:
The greatest monthly price increase is in Brent -  the average price is up by 2.6% in the borough, to £349,165. This is 8.3% higher than last year.
The greatest monthly decrease in price is in Barnet, where prices fell by 1.0% to an average of £374,292. However, this is 4.4% higher than last year.
Once again, Wandsworth had the largest annual rise – 11.3% to £452,390 – although the monthly rise here was only 0.7%.
Newham was the only borough to see an annual decrease in average house price – down 0.3%  £226,654. The monthly change here was a decrease of 0.1%.
Source: Land Registry

RICS Survey Overview
The RICS Residential Market Survey for June 2013 (published 9th July 2013) says that the  “Sales market is starting to firm nationally”.
London and the South East saw the largest price rises, whereas the North and the Yorkshire & Humberside area saw the largest fall in house prices in the month.
Scotland had the highest level of agreed sales in May, with every area seeing a rise, albeit East Anglia’s was very small.
Wales had the highest level of new buyer enquiries in the month – only East Anglia saw a fall.
The highest levels of new vendor instructions were in Scotland, the North West and the South West, whereas the largest decrease was in London.
Source: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

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PROPERTY TYPES – terraced are the cheapest and detached the most expensive.

Rightmove’s Asking Prices by Property Type
Rightmove have published figures showing National Asking Prices analysed by property type.
In the year to 6th July 2013, the average change over all property types was an increase of 4.8% – the average price is now £253,658. All types of property (which Rightmove classify) are up on last year.

  • Terraced properties’ prices rose by 5.6% to £192,710
  • Detached property asking prices rose by 4.8% to £374,370
  • Flats’ and Apartments’ asking prices rose by 4.6% to £207,844
  • Semi-Detached properties’ prices rose by 3.5% to £206,612.

Source: Rightmove

Land Registry’s Average Prices by Property Type
The Land Registry’s June average price figures analysed by property type show that the prices over all types of property rose by 0.8% in the year since June 2012. The average price is now £162,621.

  • Flats & Maisonette properties rose by 2.0% to £154,317
  • Semi-detached properties rose by 0.7% to £153,453.
  • Detached properties rose by 0.4% to £256,512
  • Terraced properties rose by 0.3% to £122,940

Source: Land Registry

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MORTGAGE FIGURES

Mortgage Lending by the Major UK Lenders
According to the latest quarterly publication from the Bank of England, (Trends in Lending July 2013), the major UK lenders comprising Banco Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and Royal Bank of Scotland, the number of mortgage approvals for house purchase was 54,000 in March, 54,400 in April and 58,200 in May . Remortgaging numbered 30,300 in March, 31,300 in April and 32,600 in May. The report states that mortgage approvals for both house purchase and for remortgaging rose in the quarter, and in May, the number of house-purchase approvals was the highest since December 2009.
Source: Bank of England

New Mortgages granted – May Actual Figures
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that 55,900 loans were made in April for house purchase, worth £8.4 billion. This is much higher than April in number (31.2%) and in  value (33.3%). These figures are up 18.7% and 18.3% (respectively) than last May’s figures.
Of these, first-time buyer loans totalled 25,100, valued at £3.4 billion, which is up by 29.4% in number and 36.0% in value on last month. This is 41.8% higher in number and 54.5% higher in value, compared to last May’s figures.
Home movers’ loans totalled £30.7 billion, and numbered 5,100. These figures are 31.8% higher than April’s in terms of number, and 34.2% higher in value.  These figures are up 4.4% in number and 6.3% in value on last May.
The number and value of remortgage loans also rose in the month – 29,500 loans worth £4.0 billion in April. These figures are 15.2% higher than last month’s in terms of volume and 17.6% higher in value. However, this is a decrease of 1.0% in number but an increase of 2.6% by value over the year.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders

New Mortgages granted – June Estimates
The Council of Mortgage Lenders reports that June’s estimated figure for gross mortgage lending in the UK is £15 billion. This is a rise of 2% on May’s £14.7 billion, and a rise of 26% from last June’s figure of £11.9 billion. This is the highest monthly estimate for gross mortgage lending since October 2008.
Source: Council of Mortgage Lenders

Outstanding Mortgage Debt
The average outstanding mortgage for the 11.3m households who currently have mortgages is estimated at £112,464 in May 2013.
Outstanding secured lending in the UK on dwellings totalled £1,266 billion at the end of May 2013. This is up from the previous May’s £1,252 billion.
Source: Credit Action

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TRANSACTIONS & OTHER FIGURES

Latest Property Sales Volumes by price range
According to the Land Registry’s June Report, in April 2013, 48,367 sales transactions took place in England and Wales, and 6,840 in London. This represents a rise of 12% in England & Wales, and a rise of 16% in London since last April’s figures, (43,252 and 5,893 respectively).
Compared to last April, in the price bracket of over £1 million, the sales volume in London increased from 327 to 490 – a rise of 50%, and in England & Wales it increased from 484 to 703 – a rise of 45%.
At the other end of the market (below £250k), the volume rose by 13% in England & Wales – from 31,704 last April to 35,704 this April – and by 16% from 2,093 to 2,428 in London.
Source: Land Registry

Land Registry Quarterly Sales Volumes
In the quarter from January to April 2013 (the latest for which figures are available), the average number of property transactions per month was 47,308. This is down on the same period a year ago, when the average was 48,299 sales per month.
Source: Land Registry

Hometrack Monthly House Price Survey Figures
Hometrack compile sample data monthly from thousands of Estate Agents in all 2,300 postcodes in England and Wales. The figures are weighted according to postcode, but not seasonally adjusted.
July’s figures (published 29th July 2013) show that the average amount of time that a house is on the market has dropped to 8.2 weeks. Regionally, this ranges from 3.8 weeks in London to 11.6 weeks in the East Midlands. This has been edging down over the last few months.
On average, 94.4% of the asking price is achieved, ranging from 96.3% in Greater London, down to 92.1% in Wales.
29.3% of postcode districts reported a price increase in July, a fall from 31.4% in June. Only 1.8% had a price decrease over the month, down from 3.1% in June.
Source: Hometrack

New Home Registration figures
NHBC state that in the first half of 2013, a total of 67,422 new homes were registered. Private sector registrations account for 48,817 of these (a rise of 23% on the same period last year) and Public Housing registrations rose by 56% in the period to 18,605. The quarterly figures also show a rise: Q2 totalled 35,683 registrations (38% up on Q2 last year) of which 25,209 were private sector (29% higher) and 10,474 were public sector (67% higher). The total is higher by 12% on Q1.
Source: NHBC

Next Monthly Market Fact File due in September.

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